Yeti - O Monstro do Século 20

I saw this movie while I was in the Navy. For free. In an outdoor theater, which was lucky, because otherwise I would have had to batter down a wall to get away from this dog. This is the only movie I have *ever* walked out on, it was so bad. Several years later I saw it on TV and managed to get thru the whole thing. I still have nightmares. This waste of film stands out in my personal experience as the single worst movie I have ever seen.

"Yeti - Giant of the 20th Century" is more than just a film. It's a phenomenon. And rather than just be watched, it should be studied and analyzed!

Being one of the worst movies ever made, and simultaneously also being one of the most popular crowd-pleasing movies at festivals, is quite an accomplishment. Sitting through this two-hour "experience" evokes a truckload of sentiments and impressions, varying from massively entertained onto deeply annoyed. "Yeti" superficially appears to feature all the characteristics of a raw and gritty euro-exploitation flick, but deep down it desires to be seen as an endearing and Disney type of family movie. Every aspect is shamelessly copied from somewhere else. The music is a rip-off of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, the script recycles the plot of the "King-Kong" movies, the young-kind-and-his-dog element comes from "Lassie", and the Yeti himself blatantly imitates Tina Turner's mega-mullet haircut.

The grandchildren of megalomaniacal business tycoon Morgan Hunnicut discover a completely intact but deep-frozen Yeti that apparently drifted from the Himalayas to Northern Canada over the course of a few million years. After a lengthy thawing process, which inexplicably includes hanging underneath a helicopter in an oversized phone booth, the loudmouthed Hunnicut comes up with the brilliant idea to transport the Yeti to New York for a sensational commercial stunt. Meanwhile, the furry giant fell in love with Hunnicut's 16-year-old niece (the big perv!) and evil business competitors attempt to destroy it by turning off the air-conditioning. So cruel!

The highlights - or lowlights if you wish - are too numerous to list. Beautiful Antonella Interlenghi makes the creature's nipple hard, there's a romantic interlude featuring a fishbone, the Yeti turns a skyscraper's elevator into a toy, and the titular primitive dude's height changes continuously. The last half hour is so exaggeratedly sentimental and sappy that it nearly ruins all the fun, and the "miraculous" return of Indie is a twist that even Disney would find too childish.

The Yeti falls in love with the girl because she accidentally made his nipple go hard. That means that someone actually constructed a huge 'fake yeti nipple' out of plastic, with the ability to make it go hard. This film is ready to go that extra mile to be stupid.

This King Kong rip-off features giant Yeti being found in Northern Canada like a frozen ready meal and is promptly melted by a keen scientist on behalf of a multi-millionaire. The millionaire wants to exploit that Yeti for monetary gain and the scientist wants to do science type things with it.

Neither of them really think things through and they melt the thing while it's suspended from a helicopter in a cage and the next thing you know the Yeti is in a bad mood and everyone else is panicking. "Look out - he's got a tree!"

One person exclaims before the Yeti makes friends with the millionaire's niece and nephew, or at least thinks the niece is his other half due to the aforementioned nipple scene. He also gives the two of them while reserving a fish the size of a dolphin for himself.

Romance blossoms (rather one-sidedly) as the Yeti combs the nieces hair with a giant fishbone and after they heal a random gunshot wound the Yeti received, everyone becomes buddies. Except Tony Kendall who of course is a two-faced bad guy working for a rival company on the side.

Yeti should really be one of the greatest bad films ever made, but it's about twenty minutes too long and by the end I wasn't sure if it was made to be aimed at kids, due to the Yeti going mental and killing about a dozen bad guys. You've got to dig that slow-mo reunion scene at the end mind you.

The Yeti himself really looks like he has Barry Gibb's head placed on Burt Reynolds body and did an awful lot of screaming and window smashing, but not much rampaging as he was supposed to be a good guy. There's a lot of interaction between him and the kids which slows the film down, but I don't know - it's hard to hate a yeti film.

Others have said it already, but this is definitely one to check out. I bought an English version of this from some guy in Brazil (subtitled in Portuguese), but I saw it several times before on Saturday afternoon TV (Captain USA really did it up when he showed this -- even singing the Yeti song during the breaks!) My favorite things about Yeti:

He looks like a hippie -- coincidence?

He keeps changing in size -- hanging under the helicopter, he appears to be about 10 feet tall. Later, laying on his back in the warehouse, his foot is about 10 feet long!

Great movie line -- listen for the background extra during the Toronto rampage scene who yells, "Look out! He's got a tree!"

It turns into a crime movie -- honestly, I never saw it coming.

So check this one out -- you'll never look at fish bones without thinking of the Yeti!

If you watch this thing, do yourself a favor and don't ask too many questions. Just sit back and enjoy this train wreck for the campy schlock it is. I think this movie would be even better if the people making it hadn't taken it as seriously as they did. Some of the other reviews have gone into more details, but I don't think that's necessary. This thing has to be experienced to be believed. Give it ten minutes and you'll know whether you can stand the rest of it. For B-movie fans, it's a rare and amazing treat. For the rest, it will be a hideous, head-shaking, mess that will have them constantly asking "WHY??" Watching this with one of them will make the movie even more fun. No one will be the same after watching this. It's a little like taking a reality-altering drug.